The present invention relates to presses for dough products and more particularly to an improved die ring and fastening system for a dough press.
Dough presses, such as pizza presses, are well known, for example, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,599,002 for a single station press and U.S. Pat. No. 5,396,833 for a relatively continuous pizza press line.
In order to form a pizza crust, a reciprocating die is provided in which the die has a contour to form the desired shape of the pizza crust, that is, in some instances the outer periphery of the pizza crust is to be thicker than the central portion, while in other instances the entire crust has a consistent thickness throughout. The die is carried within a surrounding ring, which generally is circular in shape, but could also be of other shapes as well, which serves to guide the die which moves vertically relative to the die ring.
The dough is carried on a continuous belt traveling below the reciprocating die. The belt intermittently stops to allow the die to come down and press the dough into a desired shape.
The die ring is secured to the upper platen of the press to move vertically with the platen and also to move vertically relative to the platen to a limited extent. The die ring has typically been secured to the platen (or a plate carried on the platen) by a plurality of threaded fasteners which extend through a face of the die ring to hold the die ring onto the platen.
The die ring surrounds the die, extends down further toward the belt, and serves to prevent the dough from spreading beyond the inner circumference of the die ring. However, occasionally the dough placement on the belt is not accurate and the face of the die ring comes in contact with dough, causing the dough to be pressed up into the openings where the threaded fasteners are located in the face of the die ring. This causes dough particles to stick in the openings which can become unsanitary and requires frequent and difficult cleaning.
It therefore would be an advantage to be able to provide a way of securing the die ring to the platen without resulting in a difficult to clean die ring.